Stalock getting his first start in net and McLellan’s thoughts on Hertl’s recent lack of production

KANATA, Ontario — Think what it would be like if the Sharks played in Morgan Hill. That’s about what it’s like here, actual geographic home of the Ottawa Senators. You like long drives to hockey games? Put this place right up there with Glendale.

That out of the way, just filed quick online story confirming what you should already know. Alex Stalock getting his first start of the season; Dan Boyle missing another game. You’ll find the online story here

A couple other quick things.

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It’s easy to look at the game-by-game log and think Tomas Hertl has hit some sort of wall. After scoring seven goals and nine points in his first six games, he has one lone assist in his next five.

But Todd McLellan cautioned against over-evaluating the situation:

“It’s virtually impossible for him to keep the pace up that he started with and the energy that he had. Has he hit the wall or is this just reality. It’s a man’s league, he’s still a young fellah that’s feeling his way through. People know who he is now and the match-ups are a little bit different so he’s playing through that.

“I think it’s safe to say the same energy level and production level hasn’t been there the last few games as it was earlier in the year, but he also lost a pretty good linemate, too. We have to be careful how much we potentially can over-evaluate the situation. We can talk ourselves into a situation as well.”

****Yes, I know information about Brent Burns and his injury is in short supply. Yes, I am trying to do something about that. I’ve noticed he’s missing, too.

David Pollak

David Pollak has been following the NHL forever and at the Mercury News as an editor or reporter since 1987. For almost a decade he wrote about the Sharks as the paper's Fan in the Stands before joining the sports department in 2001. He became the Sharks beat writer before the 2007-08 season and began this blog at that time. You can also follow him on Twitter at @PollakOnSharks.

Sharks power play has been lacking. Perhaps no coincidence that this seemingly correlates to no Boyler on the 1st team PP and no Burns on the 2nd team PP.

They’ll need the young legs of Nieto and Hamilton tonight along with another solid game and solid minutes from the 4th line.

Chris Vuong

I’d probably have season tickets if they played in Morgan Hill.

Michael Mathews

I didn’t go to Ottawa because I knew that besides the 2 hour train ride from downtown Montreal to Ottawa I had to find a way out to the arena in Kenata and had to be back to Montreal airport by about 9 am Monday.

spooky

Bounces were going our way this game. Not the previous game. Our PP needs some Boyle and Burns on it. Sheppard getting some traction finaly. Stalock very good.

Buddy Elf

Rolling 4 lines… Dangerous with all… Dominant 3rd period… All of that in a back to back.

JasonB

I’m concerned about Nieto, hope it’s nothing major. I’m a little (pleasantly) surprised at how much i’ve like watching him play considering i recall not having very fond thoughts of him following the preseason game i saw him in.

G-bum-man

Solid, solid game. Stalock played great. Players keep stepping up for the Sharks when others go down. And the teal keeps on rolling….shazaam!!!
The entries into the zone on the PP are what has been sloppy for the Sharks. Life without Boyle and Burns is painful in that regard. The Sharks make it too easy on teams with a good PK, like Ottowa, when they can’t get set up quickly on the PP.

Journalistic integrity. Journalists — even when they’re beat reporters for a team — feel the need to distance themselves from financial attachment to a team so as to avoid the potential for accusations of bias.

dspollak

Phat,

Good knowledge. That is the main reason, though there are beat guys who travel with NHL teams with the paper working out a financial arrangement to offset the kind of accusations you mention. Money changes hands.

Some teams also prefer to keep their privacy (that’d be the Sharks) and I understand that.

But there’s also logistics. Teams head to the airport as soon as they can get into clean clothes after a game. I’m there another 60 minutes or so writing after post-game interviews. That plane isn’t waiting around, I guarantee it.